rnal and internal.[2113]

+1166+. The most important elements that religion (though only in its
highest form) has introduced into ethics are a grandiose conception of
the basis and nature of the moral life, and a tone of tenderness in the
attitude toward the deity and toward men. The moral code it regards as
the will of God, conscience as the voice of God, morality as obedience
to God, all activity as a coworking with God. Nobility is given to the
good life by making it a part of the eternal divine purpose of the
world. The conception of human life as an essential factor in the
constitution and history of the world is common to religion and
philosophy, but religion adds the warmth of personal relation with the
divine head of the world. Into the philosophical and ethical view of the
unity of humanity religion infuses reverence and affection for the
individual as being not merely one of the component parts of the mass
but a creature of God, the object of his loving care, capable of
redemption and union with God. Here again, while there is no addition to
the content of the ethical code, there is added intensity of feeling,
which may be a spur to action.

+1167+. In the sphere of religion, as in all spheres of human activity,
ideas and tendencies are embodied in human personalities by whom they
are defined, illustrated, and enforced--not only in founders of
religious systems and other great leaders of thought, but in lesser
everyday persons who commend religion, each to his limited circle, by
purity of life. The special ethical figures contributed to history by
religion are those of the martyr and the saint. The martyr is one who
bears witness passively to what he regards as truth at the cost of his
life; he thus differs from the hero, who is a man of action. The martyr
spirit is found elsewhere than in religious history, but it is in this
latter that it has played its special ethical role--divergencies from
established faiths always excite peculiarly sharp hostility. When it is
pure loyalty to convictions of truth, it is an ethical force of great
moment--a permanent inspiration.[2114] It is less valuable when it
springs from the hope of personal advantage, when a controlling
consideration is the belief that one goes directly from the stake (as
Moslem warriors believed they went from death in battle) to celestial
happiness. There arose at times (for example, in the Decian and
Diocletian persecutions of the third century, a